Calendar of Events

“Free Admission Days, sponsored by Fluor-B&W Oak Ridge, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge and the American Museum of Science and Energy from March 17th to the 22nd. Mark your calendars now!”

Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 461 West Outer Dr, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For information: 865-482-1074, www.childrensmuseumofoakridge.org
American Museum of Science & Energy, 300 S. Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Hours: Monday-Saturday 9AM-5PM; Sunday 1-5PM. For information: 865-576-3200, www.amse.org

Hosted by the Townsend Artisan Guild, Fine Arts Blount, and the Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau. This interactive fiber arts event connects the community with fiber arts activities. The festival will include fiber animal exhibitions, contests, an arts exhibition, fashion show, workshops, educational demonstrations of fiber processes, spinning, weaving, needlecrafts, dyeing, hands-on projects with children and adults, Fiber Arts Market and more.

http://www.smokymountains.org, http://www.smokymountainfestivals.org or call Jeanie Hilten at the Visitors Center at 865-448-6134 or 800-525-6834)

Lexus of Knoxville Legendary Performances

Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

In the eighth century B.C., the blind poet Homer told the epic tale of the hero Odysseus and his long struggle to get home following the Trojan War. In 2009, Gwen Cooper wrote the true tale of a blind kitten she named Homer. Perhaps not an epic in the historical sense—Odysseus battles Cyclops Polyphemus; Homer catches flies—but the cat of “Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat” is nonetheless a hero.

Cooper talks about her life with Homer, shares passages from “Homer’s Odyssey,” and signs and offers for sale copies of the New York Times bestselling book. The free event takes place in the Clayton Performing Arts Center on the Pellissippi Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road. Anyone who loves an uplifting, well-written story is encouraged to attend. For more information on Cooper’s presentation, contact Pellissippi State’s English Department at (865) 694-6708, www.pstcc.edu

Tennessee Theatre, 604 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. For information: 865-684-1200, www.tennesseetheatre.com. For tickets: 865-684-1200, 865-656-4444, www.knoxvilletickets.com

If you’re unable to attend the full orchestra performances of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO) or if you’d like a “trial” sample of orchestra music, you’ll want to hear a KSO quartet perform at the Blount County Public Library on Thursday, March 17, at 7:00 p.m.

February 17, 2011 (Knoxville, TN) – The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Xiaoze Xie: Amplified Moments March 11–May 15, 2011.
Amplified Moments is the first major U.S. exhibition to survey the work of Xiaoze Xie (pronounced shout-zah shee-ay), an important Chinese contemporary artist. More than 30 works document his achievements in painting, drawing, photography, installation, and video, and represent his use of books and newspapers to symbolize the fragile nature of history and memory.

Although Xie intended to pursue a career in architecture, the violent military crackdown on student protesters at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 compelled him to shift his energies. He left the People’s Republic of China three years later after completing his training as a painter, and began using symbolic imagery derived from newspapers, decaying books, museum libraries, and media images of current events. For Xie, stacks of printed pages represent not only cultural memory and the passage of time, but the ways in which history is interpreted and recorded according to various belief systems and political agendas.
Xie’s labor-intensive paintings consist of successive layers of pigment applied over several weeks. Working largely from photographs, the artist paints in a manner that is influenced by his camera. Some imagery appears cropped, blurred, and hazy, as if viewed through a photographic lens or perhaps through the filter of memory. The resulting compositions reach near-photographic precision without losing the evidence of the artist’s masterful brushwork.

KMA members are invited to an exhibition preview Thursday, March 10, from 5:30 to 7:30pm. The artists and exhibition curator Dan Mills will present a short gallery talk at 6:30pm. A cash bar will be available.

Admission and parking are free. For more information, contact Angela Thomas at 865.934.2034 or visit www.knoxart.org.

Knoxville Museum of Art, 1050 World's Fair Park Dr, Knoxville, TN 37916. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM; Friday, 10AM-8PM; Sunday, 1-5PM. www.knoxart.org

The 11-month residency program is an opportunity for emerging artists to further develop both artistically and professionally. This exhibition showcases their progress.
Reception: April 9, 6:00-8:00 PM

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, 576 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. For information: 865-436-5860, www.arrowmont.org

What: Art exhibit

Elizabeth Porter: "Disconnected"
Mixed media

Conrad Reinhardt: "Beyond Time and Place"
Digital photographs and oil paintings

Free and open to the public

When: March 6 through May 6, 2011
Opening reception Friday, March 11, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.; artists' talks at 7 p.m.
Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Gallery
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918
An exhibit featuring the art work of Conrad Reinhardt and Elizabeth Porter-Moses will be on display at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919.
Contact: Roy McCullough
Sperrin@bellsouth.net
865-281-2435

Art Exhibit/Artist Reception:
"Garden of Auspicious Dreams" by Lara Dann
(showing through March)
Refreshments provided

Red Line Gallery, 11519 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37934. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11AM-6PM. For information: 865-288-0277, www.redlinegallery.net

One of the most exciting adventure stories ever told, this episode from C. S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia" contains all the beloved characters: the Pevensie family, the White Witch, and the mighty, mystical lion named Aslan.

Located at 800 Tyson Street, Knoxville, TN 37917. Information: 865-599-5284, www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com, info@childrenstheatreknoxville.com.

The Appalachian Arts Craft Center in Norris will hold its Spring Porch Sale starting Friday, March 11, and running for about two weeks. The Porch Sale features outdated stock, seconds, student crafts and non-juried work by members of the Craft Center. It’s an excellent place to get great deals on handmade crafts. The Craft Center will also be holding a bake sale during the first part of the Porch Sale. The Appalachian Arts Craft Center is a nonprofit center that has been promoting traditional artists and crafts in the East Tennessee area for 40 years.

Appalachian Arts Craft Center: 2716 Andersonville Highway, Clinton, TN. Hours: Monday-Saturday 10AM-6PM; Sunday 1-5PM. For information: 865-494-9854, www.appalachianarts.net